IGX

The day before the start of New York City's first school bus strike in 34 years, a long yellow bus pulled up at Public School 282 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and the little bodies that popped out could be counted on one hand: Three. The big bus had dropped off part of its cargo earlier, at another school, but in all, 10 children had ridden on a bus fit for about 60.

A similarly large bus pulled up with 17. Finally, a modern-looking bus whose side panel said it could carry 66 children arrived with its passengers: Five children.

"I think in some cases, we have one child on the bus," said Kathleen Grimm, the city's deputy schools chancellor for operations.

The strike that began Wednesday, which idled more than half of the city's school buses and forced about 113,000 children to find new ways to school, was prompted by a fight over union jobs. But its true roots are in an attempt to reform one of the most inefficient transportation systems in the country, one that costs almost $7,000 a year for each passenger, an amount so high that many of those children could hire a livery cab for about the same price. By comparison with the next three largest school districts, Los Angeles spends about $3,200, Chicago about $5,000, and Miami, $1,000.

Terry B. wrote:In many parts of the country, districts own the buses and hire drivers directly, which would be a massive initial investment but would free them from dealing with unions and stop a lot of the corruption.

School buses in large cities with existing public transportation systems doesn't seem as necessary as it would in rural environments where kids may be spread out over a larger area.

nafod wrote:Nobody wants to ride the short bus

Batboy2/75 wrote:

Terry B. wrote:In many parts of the country, districts own the buses and hire drivers directly, which would be a massive initial investment but would free them from dealing with unions and stop a lot of the corruption.

School buses in large cities with existing public transportation systems doesn't seem as necessary as it would in rural environments where kids may be spread out over a larger area.

Really?

The City of NY, who controls the district, is going to hire non union drivers? How does that work? Since every NY school district employee is unionized.

The fact that they can not even contract out the work to a non-union bus company or even put the ontracts out to competitive bid should tell you that the issue is the lack of political will.

Private contractor or public employees, NY is going to have union bus drivers and it seems sole source contracts. One or both of those factors will have to change if hey are going to make any head way.

Buying buses for a corrupt system seems like the last thing they should do.

Batboy2/75 wrote:

Terry B. wrote:In many parts of the country, districts own the buses and hire drivers directly, which would be a massive initial investment but would free them from dealing with unions and stop a lot of the corruption.

School buses in large cities with existing public transportation systems doesn't seem as necessary as it would in rural environments where kids may be spread out over a larger area.

Really?

The City of NY, who controls the district, is going to hire non union drivers? How does that work? Since every NY school district employee is unionized.

The fact that they can not even contract out the work to a non-union bus company or even put the ontracts out to competitive bid should tell you that the issue is the lack of political will.

Private contractor or public employees, NY is going to have union bus drivers and it seems sole source contracts. One or both of those factors will have to change if hey are going to make any head way.

Buying buses for a corrupt system seems like the last thing they should do.

Terry B. wrote:

Batboy2/75 wrote:

Terry B. wrote:In many parts of the country, districts own the buses and hire drivers directly, which would be a massive initial investment but would free them from dealing with unions and stop a lot of the corruption.

School buses in large cities with existing public transportation systems doesn't seem as necessary as it would in rural environments where kids may be spread out over a larger area.

Really?

The City of NY, who controls the district, is going to hire non union drivers? How does that work? Since every NY school district employee is unionized.

The fact that they can not even contract out the work to a non-union bus company or even put the ontracts out to competitive bid should tell you that the issue is the lack of political will.

Private contractor or public employees, NY is going to have union bus drivers and it seems sole source contracts. One or both of those factors will have to change if hey are going to make any head way.

Buying buses for a corrupt system seems like the last thing they should do.

In the western United States, many school districts have their own buses and hire their own drivers directly. The are union in that they belong to the public employees union but, so what? Most are paid far, far below what they are worth when you consider the job that they do.

If you can't hire outsourcers to do the job you want for the price you need then you need to look inside your own organization and
see if you can do the same for less.

Fortunately, there was a solution — an institution called Thomas Edison State College in Trenton, N.J. This is a virtual college with no residence requirements. It banks credits acquired through inexpensive correspondence courses from any accredited college or university in America.

I took classes by mail from the University of Washington, the University of Wyoming, and other schools with the lowest-priced correspondence courses I could find. My degree required the same number of credits and type of classes that any student at a traditional university would take. I took the same exams (proctored at local libraries and graded by graduate students) as in-person students. But I never met a teacher, never sat in a classroom, and to this day have never laid eyes on my beloved alma mater.

And the whole degree, including the third-hand books and a sticker for the car, cost me about $10,000 in today’s dollars.